| RolStoppable said: First off, when you talk about the competitive advantage of exclusives, it's not only the number of titles you need to take into account, but also the impact they are going to have. In terms of first party software (which is exclusive by default) Switch has an advantage over 3DS because it's not going to miss out on high profile games that go to a different Nintendo console. Third parties need to be given some time, because the 3DS didn't get its waves of Japanese games in its first year either, which is why an extended drought forced a quick price cut of the 3DS. Considering how Switch is selling in Japan, it should convince third parties quickly to put games on the system. It's looking likely that Switch will end up with a (much) bigger library than the 3DS. At the Switch presentation in January Nintendo said that over 80 games are in development. Now only half a year later you look at a list where this number has quadrupled. That's why I am not worried about Switch software support at all, because it has been ramping up at a rapid pace in the last few months. I don't think that I am overrating portability, because Minecraft is bound to have a bigger impact than the majority of exclusive third party games. The 3DS did not get Minecraft. Nowadays it's more probable that new hit IPs that can help Nintendo hardware sales come from indie developers rather than AAA third parties, so the Switch's development environment is set up to reap the benefits from this. The 3DS missed out on many indie games, Switch won't. |
Hmm, I would say the Switch's advantage in having undivided support in comparison to the 3DS is negligible when we consider the fact that the 3DS already got the majority of software support from Nintendo. 3DS offered a similar set of titles, the only big unique games it lacked in comparison to the WII U was Splatoon, Nintendo Land (bundles) and arguably Pikmin. You can wish third parties and especially japanese third parties transitioning to the Switch as fast as possible but it's not going to make it any faster since game development cycles have only gotten longer so the Switch might well have to wait as long as 8-10 months or even upto a year before we see developers releasing games en masse for the Switch ... (longer dev cycles perfectly ties into my point why the lifespan of home consoles are extending)
That's supposing that all of these titles will release and the Switch will recieve constant high volume of software support. (3DS already has just over 1200 games down right now while around half the number of announced Switch games are still in development until next year) I still maintain that AAA games are the main system sellers in comparison to indies and this will likely apply to the Switch too ...
| RolStoppable said: Now for the perceived disadvantages: 1. Price - You are verifiably wrong. Switch has been selling well at $300 which means that the market sees high value in the product. The 3DS couldn't maintain its $250 price tag. Logically, Switch won't need to reach the lowest price regions of the 3DS in its lifetime because the market considers it a better product with more functionality. 2. Lower chance of big emerging third party exclusives - Considering that the 3DS had almost nothing in this category, this is an overexaggeration on your part. You mentioned Yokai Watch and Bravely Default (Monster Hunter doesn't count because it was already big before the 3DS), but the developers of these games are bound to continue their work on Switch, the Bravely Default makers' new game is a confirmed exclusive at the moment. Then there's the problem that the BD games never made any significant impact on hardware sales, so you are greatly overrating the importance of this point. 3. Less chances for revisions - That may be true, but at the same time Switch hardware is better designed than the original 3DS hardware. There is less of a need for revisions for Switch and the sales data backs that up. 4. Less new higher production value games in general - Did you forget that we are talking about Switch in comparison to 3DS? Point instantly dismissed, because it's nonsensical. 5. Lack of backwards compatibility - It's not hindering sales, so point dismissed. Much of this discussion has been going in circles, so this was probably my last response. Looking at the big picture, I will win either way. Either I manage to convince you and have a convert, or you remain stubborn while being stuck in this thread that gets bumped every quarter to monitor the Switch's road of success. In time I will be able to say "Told you that the Switch will do better than the 3DS, but you wouldn't listen." because your contributions to this thread won't be forgotten. |
Well sure the Switch is selling well at $299 right now but will it be able to maintain a price of $249 and above for the rest of it's life without adversely affecting hardware sales ? (That's why I'm not discounting the 3DS's price advantage and lower cost of production so soon.)
Do you have a source to claim that Silicon Studio's new game is exclusive for the Switch ? (I haven't found anything regarding this subject on my end.) It's also far from certain that smaller players like Level-5 and Silicon Studio will be able to continue putting out higher production value games since it's getting harder for the smaller players to enter ...
Better designed in what metric ? We also haven't seen how the Switch will sell with an appreciable amount of extended time either when this comes into affect so the need for less hardware revisions to drive hardware sales is just an assertion on your part so far ...
I did take into consideration that we are talking about the Switch in comparison to the 3DS but did you take into consideration that AAA games are taking longer to make on more powerful hardware such as the Switch ? (There's a reason why the Switch is getting more cross-platform releases early on than new AAA games in general.)
Do I have to pick sides in this argument ? Why can't I be on the fence ?
Also is the Switch pulling off 3DS numbers supposed to be victory when that's a decline coming off from 3DS + WII U ? (There's also benefits to be had in having two seperate dedicated platforms like we see with WII/DS but I guess Nintendo forgone that option as the costs of maintaining two platforms outweighed the benefits for them yet there's still so much potential in it.)
